Quick and Dirty: Fever Sea – The Deluge

Having never before heard the band, I checked out this demo with zero expectations. Their Bandcamp and Metal-Archives pages throw them into the Black Metal subgenre, but as a connoisseur of our favorite Norwegian export I would have to respectfully disagree. Apart from the occasional raspy vocals, nothing about Fever Sea can really be considered kvlt. There’s clean singing, gorgeous production (especially considering it’s a demo), jazz-infused interludes and complex song structures that weave in and out. Change the vocals and guitar tone a bit and people would most likely complain these Englishmen are another cheap Opeth clone.

But they take a few more cues from their American prog and post-rock brothers than the the Swedish masters. They write rich, textured bridges filled with ambient beauty which quickly dissipate into double bass-filled jam sessions. It’s an extremely interesting listen, but the incorporation of so many genres can be frustrating at times. The Deluge sounds like just that: a flood of influences battling for dominance. It’ll be interesting to see who wins.

Final Thoughts: An extremely well-written and promising demo. If they can figure themselves out, Fever Sea will go a long way.